Best Western honored for work with other sponsors (cont'd)

The Council was instrumental in getting Best Western officials together with decision-makers of major sponsors like Coors Brewing. Each of the four yearly meetings includes outings designed to put decision-makers together to brainstorm for possible waypoints toward a B2B agreement.

New series sponsor Camping World and Mars, makers of M&M's and other candies, are also part of the Council and are currently on Best Western's radar screen for potential partners.

Travel discount programs are the baseline for Best Western, because each of the partners has a substantial corporate travel portfolio. That's not limited to just NASCAR partners. It hits fans as well, Ryan said.

"We have more than 2,200 properties in North America, so on their way to any race, they'll find a really nice Best Western to accommodate them," Ryan said. Many of the company's properties are located near NASCAR speedways, and certainly on the way to those areas.

Ryan was not a NASCAR fan when she assumed control of the partnership, but she is now.

"When I took over about two years ago, I had to go buy and read the NASCAR for Dummies book," she said with a laugh. "I have a lot of family members that are quite interested in the sport, so when I go to a race, they give me the scoop on who I need to be following."

The B2B Council, properly named the NASCAR Fuel for Business Council, includes major sponsors and partners of NASCAR, including Aflac, Bank of America, DirecTV, DuPont and others. Through the council, these companies have been able to generate millions of dollars in cross-trading sales among each other.

Aflac was highly visible during the Ford 400 weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway, as it is preparing to embark on a full-season sponsorship of Carl Edwards' No. 99 Ford from the Roush Fenway Racing stable in 2009.

NASCAR officials have said its NASCAR Fuel for Business Council is "the most prolific and profitable in all of sports," and with the success of Best Western among the other NASCAR partners, it's hard to argue against it.